1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to a vault security system and, more particularly, to systems for the storage of valuables designed to prevent access thereto by unauthorized personnel.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Prior art security systems for protecting valuables such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,238 and 2,004,551 provide holding mechanisms preventing unauthorized persons from exiting a selected area once it has been determined that such entry was unauthorized. Such systems suffer a number of disadvantages intrinsic in, for example, the mechanism used to identify persons as unauthorized and the mechanisms by which the identified unauthorized persons are detained. In these systems the identification process involves little more than the unauthorized person attempting to leave the selected area after the person has come in contact with and tried to take the protected valuables. The detention mechanisms of such systems do not operate automatically following unauthorized intrusion and do not shield all security system personnel from possible attack by the intruder.
Another type of prior art system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 798,466 and provides for a detention mechanism which detains a person giving a fire alarm until the arrival of an official, in answer to the alarm, who releases the detained person. This system suffers a disadvantage in that it does not discriminate between valid and false fire alarms, and thus detains all persons.